National Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition kicks off

The 2016 National Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition (NCCDC) kicked off on Friday to showcase college students from more than 180 schools in a contest to determine who best protects their computer network against real-world cyber attack scenarios.

The contest begins with 10 regional events, the winners of which will compete at the national competition in San Antonio, Texas, beginning on Apr. 22. Regional events are being held in Colorado, Maine, Texas, RAVE Lab, California, Maryland, Illinois, South Dakota, Washington and Georgia.

Raytheon became the title sponsor of the competition in 2014, providing the NCCDC with specialized technical resources and employee volunteers to assist.

“NCCDC relies on partners such as Raytheon to augment classroom learning with real-world experience for our participating students, so they can better understand how cyber theory might actually be applied over the course of their careers,” Dwayne Williams, director of NCCDC, said. “The diversity of support from the Department of Homeland Security, Raytheon and other industry leaders demonstrates to our students and to the nation the critical importance of growing skills in the cybersecurity field.”

The NCCDC was founded in 2005 by the University of Texas San Antonio’s Center for Infrastructure Assurance and Security.